The Phantoms
by AwesomeMango
Summary: <html><head></head>Alejandro can't just sleep tonight. He doesn't know why, but he has a bad feeling that when he falls asleep, something terrible would happen. After getting a strange phone call from his mom, he sets out to somewhere safe just to find his streets bloody and wondered by cloaked people! How strange could this get? Oc Philippines, oc LuzVisMinda, oc Brunei. AU.</html>


Alejandro stared blankly at his ceiling. On nights like these, where he absolutely cannot sleep, he often stared at his ceiling. It was decorated with glow-in-the-dark stars from his earlier childhood years, but the magical glow it held had began to fade.

Sighing, he gave a glance at his electric clock. The numbers blinked 12:30. It was midnight and he was still unable to drift off into his long deserved slumber.

It was strange, though. He had a tiring day from school, especially from the 1 kilometer run in M.A.P.E.H. and 4 tests in his other subjects. Why isn't he sleepy? He came home worn out and extremely exhausted. So, why? Why can't he get his shut eye?

_Because something is not right, _he thought. There was something off with tonight. He knew that if he slept, something bad will happen. As if the moment he closes his eyes, someone will break in and kill everyone.

_Ring, ring, _his cellphone screeched, snapping him out of his thoughts, _ring, ring._

He reached out for it, grasping it in his arms, and then bringing it up to his face. It was his mom who was calling. _What could she want at this hour? _He thought. She should be home by now. What's the point in calling him through his cell when she could easily just go into his room?

Swiping the green call button to the right, he brought the phone to his ear. "Hello, Nay [1]? What is it?"

"Alejandro!" His mother's voice called from the other end, sounding somewhat distressed. "Alejandro, thank goodness you're alright. Listen, get the guns in your dad's room and the knives in the kitchen. Pack as much food as you can, too, along with clothes and toiletries."

"Nay? What's going on? Why are you saying this?" Alejandro felt worry well up in his heart. He had no idea what was going on or why his mom was saying all these strange things. It was scary.

"Look, there's not enough time. They're closing in. Whatever you do, don't come for me. It's too late to save me. Take your siblings and run off to somewhere safe. Stay together at all times and never separate. I love you."

Before Alejandro can say anything, there was a loud _thump _on the other side and the loud _beep, beep, beep _of the connection cutting.

"Nay? Nay? _Nay? _Answer me, oy!"

No answer.

Panicked, Alejandro dialed up her number once more. _Beep-beep-beep,_ the sound was everlasting and monotone, replacing his mother's sweet voice.

Still nothing.

However, his determination did not falter. Once more, he called her. _Pick up, pick up, pick up, _he thought.

And someone did pick up. For a moment, he felt his heart flutter. His mother was okay. But when he heard the voice on the other line, he felt his stomach drop.

"You're next," a deep, hoarse voice said before briefly hanging up.

Alejandro dropped his phone. That was definitely not his mother. What could have happened to her? Could the owner of that horrifying voice done something to her? He has to go save her!

No. That's not right. His mother won't like that. She wouldn't have wasted her final moments warning them to scurry off somewhere safe. It would waste her sacrifice.

Wait. Why is he talking as if she was already dead?

_Because she already is dead, _his gut said.

Gritting his teeth, he got out of bed and grabbed his schoolbag. He then zipped it open, emptied its contents, and went to his closet. He pulled the doors open and began to stuff his clothes inside, filling half the bag with his underwear, shirts, and jeans. "What else? What else?" He thought aloud. ". . . The guns and knives."

He threw the bag over his shoulder and went to the kitchen first, tossing the kitchen knives into his bag. It was probably a bad idea to mix them in with his clothes, but hey, he only had one bag to place everything in!

He then rushed into his dad's room, where he literally tore the place apart looking for guns. Where did he put those things? The last time he saw those was in his underwear drawer!

Alejandro bent over and peeked under the bed, spotting a box marked _'Do not open!'_. Bingo.

He brought it out from its hiding place and ripped it open, finding an array of guns. _Wow, Dad's collection has grown over the years_, he thought. "I can't fit all of these in here. . . Tsk."

Alejandro rummaged through the pile and found a pistol. _This should do. _He closed the box and slid it back under the bed.

Now, what was left was food and toiletries. After that, all he needed to do was to wake his siblings up and get out of the house. To where, he didn't know, but he guessed that anywhere aside from his house was a safe place. Why else would his mother tell him to get out?

He went to the kitchen and tossed almost everything he could find inside his bag: bananas, apples, cookies, bags of chips, canned tuna, canned sardines, cup noodles. . . _Everything. _

He then went to the family bathroom where he shoved a bar of soap, all the toothbrushes and toothpaste into the small pocket (the big pocket was full by now).

Alright, now he needed to wake his siblings.

One by one, door by door, he knocked and yelled at them to get up and pack. They all responded the same: "It's the middle of the night! Go back to sleep!" But when he pushed them out of bed and slapped them square in the face, they immediately obeyed him.

When they were done getting ready, Alejandro counted all of them to make sure everyone was there. _Emilio, Hadji, Maricela, and Enrique. Alright, complete. _

"Why did you wake us up this early? Totally not cool, you know," Enrique said, stifling a yawn.

"Mom called me," Alejandro adjusted his backpack, avoiding eye contact. "She said that we needed to get out of her. Quick. To somewhere safe."

"And where is this somewhere?" Hadji asked. He sounded as sleepy as Enrique.

"I don't know. Just not here, I guess."

Alejandro ignored the rising complaints from his siblings ("Why didn't you think of it?" "You woke us up to go to nowhere?" "This sucks!")

"Oh, in the name of all that is good, can you guys just _shut up_? Unless you have a destination in mind, then be _quiet. _Really guys, this isn't easy. Nowhere is safe nowadays."

Everyone looked baffled. It wasn't often that Alejandro snapped like that in front of his siblings. He had always kept up a patient, calm, and cheerful demeanor.

Emilio, the second oldest, placed a calming hand on his brother's shoulder. "Al, calm down. Look, how about we go to the police station? It's just a few blocks away. The policemen would surely keep us safe. Dad is there, too, so he'll know what to do."

Of course! The police station! Why hasn't he thought of that? And his dad was there, too. It was a win-win.

"Okay. Sounds like a plan, Emilio."

. . .

_Worst plan ever, _thought Alejandro. Yes, going outside must have been the most stupid thing to ever do. Sure, his mother did warn him not to stay inside anymore, but he didn't expect _this. _

The streets were filled with strange cloaked people and dead bodies (yikes!). The cloaked strangers kept murmuring something under the breath – a fast, foreign chant that kept going on and on. . . It didn't help that they were also covered in blood.

It was strange, though. They didn't seem to notice Alejandro or his siblings. They kept wandering around, whispering nonsense. Still, it wasn't like he didn't take it nicely. It was odd, but he was sure from the bloodstains on their cloak, it's best not to get noticed.

"Bro, what the hell is going on?" Enrique asked, trying to mask the fear and confusion in his voice. It was obvious, though. He never did learn to control his voice.

Before Alejandro could reply, the chanting stopped. _That doesn't sound good, _he thought. He nervously looked back to the street. All of the cloaked people's attention was on them.

"Run." No one moved. Caught by fear, their legs were bolted to their places. "_I said RUN!" _

That seemed to snap them out of it. Their legs were free and moving at 100 miles per hour to the police station.

"They're chasing us!" Maricela shouted, completely panicked.

"Just keep running!" insisted Alejandro. "To the police station, quick! Dad will protect us!"

No one dared to speak after that. They were all convinced that their dear father would drive those cloaked people away and explain _what the heck was going on. _All they needed to do was reach the police station, burst into their father's office, and hide behind the man's back. He'll take care of the rest, surely.

. . .

The police station began to come into view: a dusty, old, one-floored building. Protection was so close. And yet, their doom was too. The cloaked figures were beginning to pick up their speed, just a few feet away from our heroes.

"Almost there!" Emilio encouraged. "Almost there!"

One more meter, one more feet, a few more inches, and. . . There!

Emilio stopped in his tracks and hauled the entrance doors close, locking and jamming them shut with a broom. "Quick, to Dad! That won't hold them off for long."

"Emilio. . ." Alejandro's voice was solemn and grim, as if something terrible had happened. But then again, nothing bad happened, right? They were safe now that they were in the same building with their father, right?

But boy, when he took a look at that counter, all hope disappeared. Now he understood what his brother was referring to – why he sounded so. . . upset.

The whole police station was raided, most probably. Corpses were flung here and there, blood was splattered against the walls, and worst of all, there were cloaked people inside.

The angry murmurs of the cloaked people outside and the banging on the glass doors were mere background noise to the hell they've just entered.

Emilio could hear Alejandro curse (he hasn't done that in ages!) and aim his gun at one of the cloaked figures. What? Is he _crazy_? He shouldn't be handling a gun – he was only seventeen! He didn't have a license to even have one.

_Bang! _

"Holy crap!" The words rolled down Emilio's mouth by accident, but he couldn't help it. The sound was loud – so loud that he swore he could feel blood drip down his ears. It was surely ear-ripping, as they would say.

_Bang! Bang! Bang! _

Emilio placed his hands over his ears, unable to bear the mere sound that the machine emitted in action. His siblings did the same, begging their older brother to stop firing the darned thing. But they all knew it was necessary for their safety.

Emilio glanced at his older brother, who was visibly trembling. He had killed all the cloaked people in the room – he was a murderer now. But he surely didn't look like one. Instead of seeing a killer, he saw a scared, frightened teen that was on the verge of retching.

He placed a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder, the latter sharply turning his head to him. "O-Oh, it's just you." Alejandro laughed, though it sounded dry.

"It's okay. You did this for our sake. There's nothing wrong with what you did." Emilio wasn't sure why he sounded so firm, but he brushed it off and decided to do his best in comforting his shaken brother.

"Yeah," Alejandro smiled slightly, "Yeah."

"Sorry to interrupt, but can we go now?" Hadji then pointed to the door. "They look ready to push down the thing."

"Oh, forgot about that." Alejandro rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Okay, come on."

The building wasn't that big and they've pretty much memorized every inch of it (their dad always took them here when they were little) so it was no problem in finding their dad's office. Though, on the way, Alejandro was forced yet again to kill a couple of cloaked people. It pained Emilio to see his brother taking their lives and worried that with each bullet shot, his brother would no longer feel shaken. After all, once that happens, it means that he was no longer innocent.

"I've ran out of ammo," Alejandro announced, waving his gun around in gentle circles. He looked tired. "Let's just pray that no cloaked people are in there."

They took a moment to pray to the Lord, asking Him for His divine mercy. Even in a hectic situation like this one, it didn't hurt to pray to God. He gives strength to those who need it. However, Hadji was different from them for he was Muslim and prayed to a different god. _The more gods, the merrier,_ guessed Emilio.

Shortly after, they took one last glanced at each other and then had Alejandro turn the knob. It was locked. Was their dad in there, hiding from those strange cloaked people?

Alejandro begged, "Dad, can you please open up? It's us, your children. We've come for help! Please."

"How do I know that you're not a phantom?"

Aadila? What was she doing in their dad's office?

"Aadila? Is that you? What the heck are you doing in there? Hey, come on, open up!"

She asked again, this time a little harsher, "How do I know that you're not a phantom?"

"What the heck is a 'phantom'?" Alejandro snapped. It seemed that their brother was on his limit.

Silence.

Then there was a click, a turn of the knob, and Aadila emerging from behind of the door. For a moment, Alejandro looks relieved, but it instantly washes away once the gun was pointed at his head.

"Go inside. One wrong move can lead to your death."

. . .

"So, can you tell me why you're doing this?" Enrique inquired.

Maricela joined in, "Yeah, why are you doing this?"

"To make sure you guys aren't phantoms," Aadila simply replied.

Currently, she was observing and wiping their forehead with her handkerchief. It was strange, they had to admit. How long has she been alone in this office to do this? Was she at her breaking point or something?

"Okay," Aadila takes a step back. "You guys aren't phantoms."

"Ate Aadila, can you please explain what's going on?" Hadji asked. "Everything doesn't seem to make sense right now."

"Of course it wouldn't make sense. Nothing would make sense to you guys. After all, you don't have the sources to know the necessary information." Aadila walked to their father's office chair and sat on it. With her clasped hands, straight posture, and firm face, she seemed like a whole different person. The Aadila they knew was soft-spoken, kind, and lax, not straight-forward and on-edge.

"Okay, so where should I start?" She mused for a second, trying to collect the pieces of her story. "Well, first of all, I should tell you how I know the following information. My father works in a top secret organization managed by the government that handles problems that the public should not know. Since he trusted me and never liked keeping things from us, he always told us about his job in return that we won't tell a soul.

"In my father's job, the main problem they faced was phantoms. They are the strange cloaked people that you saw lurking about the building and street. Lead by an unknown leader, they set out onto the world to claim it as theirs. They kill those who have no use for them while they turn those they think are worthy into one of them.

"From recent studies, it is shown that they use hypnosis to turn innocent people into phantoms. That way, they would be sure that they have their full allegiance. But there's a price for this: their vision is taken away from them.

"To know a phantom from a normal person is to find the symbol on their forehead." Aadila dipped her finger in the small puddle of blood on the desk and began to doodle a swirl, gently bringing the end down a few inches before stopping. "That's how it looks like."

"I see, so that's why you observed our foreheads." Alejandro muttered, "And I thought you were losing it."

"Well, as a matter-of-fact, I am still somewhat sane." Aadila huffed. "Besides, the phantoms lately have found methods in hiding their sign. Such as putting make up on it, for example."

"So, what happened? I mean, the organization your dad works in should be taking care of the phantoms. Why are they all over the place?" Maricela asked.

Aadila's face grimed. "We don't know. They suddenly appeared in swarms and took over the town. I guess they planned this or something, I'm not sure."

"Oh, gosh, what are we going to do now?" Emilio wearily asked himself. "Dad isn't here, the phantoms have taken over, we don't know where Mom is, and now we have nowhere to go."

"Oh, but Emilio, you have somewhere to go." Aadila stood up from her seat, a look of determination plastered on her face. "My father's organization is offering a shelter right now in their headquarters. We'll be safe there."

"And how do you know that?" Alejandro questioned.

"My dad told me before he. . . died."

The room fell silent for a moment.

"A phantom killed him. He told me to go to his headquarters and to stay safe before breathing his last breath. As his daughter, I plan to fulfill his wish. If you want, you can follow me there. I don't mind. You guys are my friends, after all."

The del Pilar family exchanged a few looks before coming to an agreement. It didn't take them words to settle their decision. This was one of the rare talents they had – not needing words. For in family, a simple look in the eye was enough.

Alejandro spoke for them: "We'll go. I'm sure mom would want us to go."

Aadila smiled. "Alright. Then, come with me. I'll keep you all safe."

"We'll keep you safe, too," Emilio said. His face was slightly red (oooh, he's blushing!) and he had balled his fist in pure determination. "We won't ever let you get hurt."

"Ew, Manong [2], that's gross. Suddenly taking a cool character."

"Shut up, Enrique!"

"Haha! Manong and Ate [3] Aadila sitting on a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

As Enrique continued to tease Emilio on his obvious crush on Aadila (he's had it since they were children), Alejandro went through his bag. It was a mess from running – everything was jumbled up!

"Ah, here they are."

Suddenly, all attention was on Alejandro.

He brought out three bread knives and a butcher knife. "I'm guessing you guys will be needing these." He said, facing his siblings. "You will all need to learn how to fend for yourselves. Sorry I can't get anything good."

"It's alright, bro," Enrique reassured. "We'll be alright. Besides, we're in a police station, which means we can get gu-"

"No!" Alejandro looked panicked. "Absolutely no! You have no idea how to wield a gun! It's far too dangerous!"

"But you have-"

"I know, but I barely kept it in my hands. Just use these."

Alejandro then distributed the knives to his siblings, the bread knives going to his brothers and the butcher knife to his sister.

"Wait a minute, why does Maricela get the big knife?"

"Because, Enrique, she's a girl and she needs a bigger weapon to protect herself."

"No fair!"

As Enrique rambled on about how sexist he was being, Alejandro directed his attention to Aadila. "Would you like a knife?"

"No, I'm fine. I have this." Aadila brought out a lightweight revolver. "It's amazing how much guns a police station can have."

Alejandro smiled and simply nodded. "We should stock up on ammo. We'll leave shortly after that."

"Okay."

. . .

Once Alejandro and Aadila have stocked up on as much ammo they can carry, along with some medical kits (which Hadji volunteered to hold), they set out onto their journey to the government headquarters.

_A/N:_

_I've been working on this forever! Since I finished studying early, I decided to finish this story. It's been sitting in my documents for quite a while, haha. _

_It's a phantom AU. Alejandro is a del Pilar in this one since he's surrounded by them so. . . hah. _

_LuzVisMinda, Emilio, and Aadila belong to HC. _

_[1] – Mom_

_[2] – Old man (?)_

_[3] – Sister _


End file.
